Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

23 March 2004

NATO

• Greece will try to provide an environment of “absolute security” for the Athens Olympics without taking away from the games’ air of celebration, the country’s top law enforcement official said Monday in Athens. Public Order Minister Voulgarakis also said Greece’s NATO allies will help safeguard the nation’s airspace and offer intelligence on possible terrorist threats. CIA Director George Tenet, in an interview published Monday in the Ta Nea newspaper, described NATO’s assistance as an important boost in efforts to guard against terrorism. Mr. Voulgarakis said NATO will supply AWACS surveillance planes that will monitor Greek airspace. NATO will not provide ground troops, he added, but its ships will patrol international sea lanes and board suspect ships, if necessary. (AP 222049 Mar 04)

KOSOVO

• NATO said Albanian extremists orchestrated last week’s ethnic clashes in Kosovo and urged provincial leaders to more strongly condemn the attacks against minority Serbs. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer visited Kosovo on Monday. Kosovo leaders including Prime Minister Bajram Rexhepi have condemned the violence, but Mr. De Hoop Scheffer’s comments suggested that the international community believes they did not react quickly or unequivocally enough. “What happened last week, orchestrated and organised by extremist factions in the Albanian community, is unacceptable,” Mr. De Hoop Scheffer said after talks with international and local leaders. Kosovo’s UN governor Harri Holkeri said Albanian leaders had offered him and Mr. De Hoop Scheffer explanations for the violence. “To my great astonishment and disappointment something was left out with one exception, namely the condemnation of the violence against the Serbs,” he said. (Reuters 222113 GMT Mar 04)
  
  
• Kosovo Albanian President Ibrahim Rugova said on Monday that last week’s violence against Serbs had not damaged the cause of independence, because only independence could bring peace. “Kosovo needs independence to accelerate democratic and economic development,” he told a news conference. The official admonition from the West over the weekend was that “violence will get you nowhere, work for reconciliation.” Kosovo Albanians should not think “that by inciting violence they will bring their political ambitions closer. Indeed it will take much longer,” said NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. Mr. Richard Holbrooke, Carl Bildt and Wolfgang Petritsch said Western procrastination over the future of Kosovo must share a large part of the blame for the explosion of violence. “Decisive steps have to be taken now. Clarity on what Kosovo’s status is needs to be determined,” Petritsch said at the weekend. Mr. Holbrooke said the U.S., the EU and the UN had all failed to take a strong leading role. Mr. Bildt said the West’s multi-ethnic principles were under attack and the big debate now beginning would be “Do we cave in and accept, or do we reassert our principles?” The Serbian daily Balkan also summed up “the question no one can currently answer: Did Albanians achieve most of their goals by cleansing Serb villages or was their action a big mistake that might cost them their dream of an independent state?” (Reuters 221204 GMT Mar 04)

AFGHANISTAN

• The Netherlands will contribute six Apache helicopters and 135 airmen to the NATO-led security force in Afghanistan, the Defense Ministry said Monday. The Dutch troops will arrive in April to join the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul for six months. “The mission is to support the process of reconciliation and reconstruction,” said a Defense Ministry statement. (AP 221734 Mar 04)
  
  
• French troops have recently helped track down an area in Afghanistan where Osama bin Laden may have hidden out, France’s defense minister said in an interview published on Tuesday. “Our men are well-established and know the terrain well,” Michele Alliot-Marie was quoted as telling L’Express news magazine. “But you understand, it’s difficult to say more for reasons of confidentiality and security,” she said in the report published on L’Express’ Web site. (AP 230023 Mar 04)

TERRORISM

• The U.S. State Department on Monday expanded its list of foreign terrorist organizations to include Ansar al-Islam. Ansar al-Islam “has been one of the leading groups engaged in anti-coalition terrorist attacks in Iraq,” a statement said. In addition, three other groups, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, Asbat al-Ansar, and the Salafist Group for Call and Combat have been redesignated as terror organizations. (Reuters 230154 GMT Mar 04)
  
  
• An Islamist Web site published a statement purporting to come from an al Qaeda-linked group vowing revenge on the United States and its allies over Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. “We tell Palestinians that Sheikh Yassin’s blood was not spilt in vain and call on all legions of Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades to avenge him by attacking the tyrant of the age, America, and its allies,” said the statement by Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades carried by the Al Ansar forum Web site. It was also published by another Islamist Web site called Islammemo, which said the letter was received by email and sent to several Arab media outlets. The purported Qaeda statement also urged Palestinians not to follow Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, who it said was trying to “sell Palestine” in exchange for peace. (Reuters 222031 GMT Mar 04)